Up Day with Non-Confirming Technicals

The stock market indices started the day off sloppy, they moved up, consolidated, and closed firm. It was an up-day, but with lousy technicals. I'm not happy at all with what I saw today. Perhaps the indices is getting week and/or tired, and in need of a bigger pullback. Although, I'll have to admit, the market did hold up well.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 47.47 at 17,131.86, just 8 points off the high for the day. The S&P 500 was up 2.57 to 2017.46, a point off its high, and 7 points off its low. The Nasdaq 100 was up 12.55 to 4382.56, 7 points off the high, and 19 points off the low.

Advance-declines were positive by 135 issues on New York Stock Exchange and 105 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 17 to 10 negative on New York, with total volume of 4 billion shares. Nasdaq traded 2 billion shares, and had a 7 to 6 negative volume ratio. It was a sloppy day for an up-day, for sure, and the technicals were not supporting the move.

TheTechTrader.com board had a mixed session today. Priceline.com (PCLN) was up 33.79 to 1347.08, Google Inc. (GOOG) up 3.06 to 646.67, but Apple Inc. (AAPL) was down 52 cents to 111.60, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was up 10.39 to 550.19, and Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) was up just 12 cents to 113.44.

Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA) lost 5.11 to 215.58.

The biotech sector was very mixed today. Heron Therapeutics, Inc. (HRTX) ran 2.58 to 28.30, Juno Therapeutics Inc. (JUNO) popped 2.04 to 50.68, but Radius Health, Inc. (RDUS) gave back 2.53 to 55.27.

CyberArk Software, Ltd. (CYBR) was also down 2.06 to 50.85.

Other gainers included Facebook, Inc. (FB) up 1.02 to 94.26, and Aquinox Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AQXP) up 1.88 to 14.78.

Checking the TheTechTrader.com percent-gain leaderboard, Can-Fite BioPharma Ltd. (CANF) ran all the way up to 5.30 at, or near, the opening, and then pulled back and closed up 46 cents to 4.66, or 11%, on 13 million shares.

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (AVXLD) gained 1.68 to 9.92, or 20%, on 1.8 million shares traded. Entravision Communications Corporation (EVC) advanced 1.09 to 7.80, or 16%, on 1.4 million shares traded.

NovoCure Limited (NVCR) led the way today, up 4.86 to 25.88, or 23%, on 2.1 million shares. Natural Health Trends Corp. (NHTC) climbed 4.31 to 39.86, or 12%. SkyWest Inc. (SKYW) bounced 1.97 to 19.26, or 11%, on 1.6 million shares, on lower oil prices.

Among other gainers, Lakeland Industries Inc. (LAKE) jumped 1.21 to 14.80, Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG) popped 1.46 to 18.06.

The Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X ETF (DUST) stair-stepped its way up 1.17 to 14.78.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices popped, pulled back, ran up to late morning highs, and highs for the session, pulled back early afternoon, held trend lines, and then bounced again to close positive on the session.

It was kind of a sloppy session. More of a consolidation day. Caution is the word here.

Let's see how it goes tomorrow.

Good Trading!

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